Fear Him

Psalm 34:11-18

English Standard Version (ESV)

^11 (A)Come, O children, listen to me;
    ^(B)I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
^12 (C)What man is there who desires life
    and loves many days, that he may ^(D)see good?
^13 (E)Keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from ^(F)speaking deceit.
^14 (G)Turn away from evil and do good;
    seek peace and ^(H)pursue it.

^15 (I)The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
    ^(J)and his ears toward their cry.
^16 (K)The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to ^(L)cut off the memory of them from the earth.
^17 (M)When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to ^(N)the brokenhearted
    and saves ^(O)the crushed in spirit.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2034:11%20-18&version=ESV

 

 

1 Peter 3:10-17

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁰ For

^(A)“Whoever desires to love life
    and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
    and his lips from speaking deceit;
¹¹ let him turn away from evil and do good;
    let him seek peace and pursue it.
¹² For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

¹³ Now ^(B)who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ^14 (C)But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. ^(D)Have no fear of them, ^(E)nor be troubled,¹⁵ but ^(F)in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, ^(G)always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and ^(H)respect,^16 (I)having a good conscience, so that, ^(J)when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷ For ^(K)it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20Peter%203:%2010%20-%2017&version=ESV

Paul quotes this scripture in I Peter which tells us how we as Christians should live our lives.  The point that stood out to me was the fear of the Lord that we should all have.  Sometimes in our society today I think that we are becoming less and less fearful of God.  We are becoming more and more a people that think the most important thing in life is to please us.  In many ways we are walking around with a two year old mentality where we think the worlds revolves around us.  We need to be realizing who causes the world to revolve and His greatness.

Here are some questions to ponder:

1.       When things don’t go the way we think they should, do we cry to the Lord and tell Him how it should be or do we cry to the Lord and ask for His guidance to help us stay faithful to Him?

2.      When we sin do we just chalk it up as another way to obtain grace or are we remorseful to our God whom we have sinned against?

3.      Do we find ourselves complaining to God or do we find ourselves crying to God?

4.      Are we truly living lives to please God or are we living our lives to please ourselves or those around us?

5.      We when fall or fail in any situation do we complain about it or do we ask the Lord to teach us how to not fall or fail again? 

6.      When we think about who God is do we see Him first as the Maker of the Universe or do we think of Him as the One that supplies grace?

7.      Do we view God as a friend we can dump on or a God we realize is in control?

The questions could go on and on but I hope you have gotten the point.  Although Christ is our friend, He is also the creator of the universe.  When I was a principal I always wanted my employees to feel that I cared about them.  I always wanted them to feel like I was their friend and that they could talk to me but there was also a line that could not be crossed.  They needed to realize that I was also their superior, not something I lorded over them but something that was a known fact. If for some reason they were disappointed in my actions, they had the right to tell me but I expected them to trust me and respect my decisions.  Insubordination was not something to take lightly and could not to occur under my watch care.  I didn’t take much to whining.

Now that makes sense in the business world and it should make sense as a follower of Christ.  Christ wants to be our friend and He wants to voice our concerns to Him.  Yet many times we find ourselves complaining to Him, it is like saying, “you can’t do it as well as I can”.  In the workforce my pet peeve is having someone tell me how I should do my job (unless it is my boss), it is like they think they could do it so much better than I can yet they may not have the education or experience that I have had or they simply may only be hearing one side of the scenario.  Now, put that in the context of speaking to our Father in Heaven.  He is the creator of this universe and yet we tell Him how it should be?  He can see the future, He knows what is best for us, yet we continue to try to tell Him how it should be.

The secret of success is found in the fear the Lord.   When we fear Him we will trust Him and if we trust Him, He will guide us, and if He guides us, we find our actions and our words reflect Him.  When our lives reflect Him, we have found success.  Attitudes fixed on Him rather than this life will change the way we view our place in this world.

Seek Him and His ways and stop seeking your desires, your hopes, and your dreams unless they lead to the path of righteousness in Christ Jesus.

Seeking Him with all my heart,

Sheila